Avik Ashar

Co-Founder

Mumbai, India13 yrs 8 mos experience

Key Highlights

  • Led $280 million fundraising for Zilingo.
  • Achieved 40%+ IRR on multiple investments.
  • Scaled Zilingo operations across five geographies.
Stackforce AI infers this person is a Venture Capitalist with extensive experience in early-stage investments across various industries.

Contact

Skills

Core Skills

Venture CapitalEarly Stage InvestmentFundraisingPortfolio ManagementOperations ManagementBoard AdministrationAccount ManagementBusiness DevelopmentEnterprise Technology SalesSales Management

Other Skills

Board GovernanceCompetitive AnalysisContract NegotiationCorporate CommunicationsDefenseDefense TechnologyDigital MarketingDue DiligenceFashionFinancial AnalysisGrowth InvestingHealthcareInternal & External CommunicationsInvestmentsMarket Research

About

I've been building or investing in businesses for the past 13 years. The highlights: - Ran investments at Artha Ventures, leading early stage (seed / Pre-A) investments - Ran a single family office for the Sutariya family, based in Bombay, investing across India & SEA Portfolio highlights include Wellness Forever, Fareye Technologies, Posist (40%+ IRR) - Scaled Zilingo across 5 geographies, $100mn P&L responsibility with a team of 60, raised $280mn for the business - Founded a SaaS startup in the auto insurance space (exited) - Led Sales and Account Management for Janio, acquiring and managing clients like Disney, Swarovski, Nike Real highlights: - Made many many mistakes - Had sleepless nights when our runway was less than 1 month - Heard no from 80+ funds - Wished I had quietly joined a 'safe' career path on occasion How to reach out to me? The very best way is through a warm introduction. Second is meeting me at an event. Third is reaching out here on LinkedIn. How to get blacklisted by me? Reaching out on my personal number/email

Experience

Riverwalk holdings

Principal

May 2025Jan 2026 · 8 mos · Mumbai Metropolitan Region · On-site

  • Leading fundraising activites for Riverwalk
  • Supporting existing portfolio companies along with new investment evaluations
Venture CapitalFundraisingEarly Stage InvestmentGrowth InvestingDue Diligence

Futwork

Board Observer

Sep 2024Apr 2025 · 7 mos · Mumbai, Maharashtra, India · Remote

  • Distributed full-stack Customer Contact BPO enabled by AI - disrupting the traditional call centre industry
  • Deal lead; Board inputs and strategic support around growth strategy including institutional client acquisition, growing functional competencies and delivering differentiated client outcomes

Artha venture fund

Principal

Feb 2024Apr 2025 · 1 yr 2 mos · Mumbai Metropolitan Region · On-site

  • Artha Venture Fund 1 is a Rs. 225 crore ($33 million) early stage venture capital fund that will invest in 40 revenue stage companies following on in them in the Pre-Series A/Angel & Series A rounds.
  • The fund's investment strategy is built on the experience gained by our Founding Partner from investing in 100+ companies, participating in 150+ funding rounds and delivering top quartile results.
  • Artha Select Fund 1 is a Rs. 450 crore ($55 million) growth stage fund that will invest follow-on capital in companies from Artha Venture Fund 1 and Artha Venture Fund 2
Portfolio ManagementEarly Stage InvestmentVenture CapitalValuationDue Diligence

Everest fleet pvt. ltd.

Board Observer

Feb 2024Apr 2025 · 1 yr 2 mos · Mumbai, Maharashtra, India · Remote

  • Everest Fleet is the world's largest Uber fleet partner, with over 18,000 vehicles across CNG and Electric motors, valued at over $400 million.
  • Artha Ventures has been a seed investor in Everest and continued to participate across the growth of the company
Operations ManagementVenture CapitalFinancial AnalysisBoard GovernanceSupply Chain Management

Daalchini - smart vending machines

Board Observer

Feb 2024Apr 2025 · 1 yr 2 mos · Mumbai, Maharashtra, India · Remote

  • Daalchini is India's leading vending machine operator, with over 2,000 vending machines across 82 cities.
  • Catering to 25% of India's top 100 companies, Daalchini has made an impact across the corporate sector as well as industrial, with machines deployed across corporate plants and factories alike.
  • Clients include Reliance, Amazon, JSW, EY, Samsung and more.
  • Partnered with 200+ brands, managing over a 1000 SKUs, with over 60 items sold a minute, Daalchini is creating a new point of retail distribution for incumbents and challenger brands alike.
Venture CapitalBoard AdministrationDue DiligenceFinancial AnalysisBoard Governance

Lemnisk

Board Observer

Feb 2024Apr 2025 · 1 yr 2 mos · Mumbai, Maharashtra, India · Remote

  • Lemnisk is a leading Customer Data Platform (CDP) solution with a large clientele across the BFSI and Retail industries.
  • With investments from Artha Ventures, Airtel, DSP Group and implementation partnerships across the Middle East, South East Asia and Australia, Lemnisk is a leading provider of martech.
  • Leveraging their AI engine, Ramanujan, they help companies customize their marketing and communications, improving customer experiences, conversions and upsellling.
Early Stage InvestmentVenture CapitalMarketing Technology

The yarn bazaar

Investor and Advisor

Jan 2023Dec 2025 · 2 yrs 11 mos

  • The Yarn Bazaar operates a managed marketplace for Yarn buyers and sellers, ensuring quality, cost and delivery optimization. They currently serve fabric converters and garmenters across India & Bangladesh, supplying the highest quality yarns from manufacturers across India.
Early Stage InvestmentFashionVenture CapitalDue DiligenceTextile Industry

Optimized electrotech pvt ltd

Investor

Dec 2022Present · 3 yrs 3 mos · Singapore

  • Optimized Electrotech is developing cutting edge imaging solutions used for Military-grade applications (thermal imaging, sights) and Civilian infrastructure protection (security systems and identification software)
Early Stage InvestmentDefense TechnologyVenture CapitalDue DiligenceDefense

Riyalto inc

Investor

May 2022Present · 3 yrs 10 mos · Singapore

Venture CapitalDue Diligence

Janio asia

Head of Commercial - SG

Mar 2022Jan 2024 · 1 yr 10 mos · Singapore · On-site

Account ManagementBusiness DevelopmentSales ManagementEnterprise Technology SalesContract Negotiation

Saison capital

VC Scout

Mar 2022Mar 2023 · 1 yr · Singapore

  • Credit Saison is a Tokyo-listed 30b AUM consumer finance company, and one of the largest credit card issuers in Japan. I help lead the corporate venture arm where we do direct and fund of fund investments.
  • Our direct investments include Grab (Ridehailing, largest startup in SEA), where we helped to build its Finance business unit, Shopback (Softbank/Temasek-backed), and other industry leaders. Our LP investments include some of the top-performing funds in SEA (East Ventures, Beenext), and global funds like Quona Capital and Better Tomorrow Ventures.
  • Reach out to me to share more about your venture!
Venture Capital

Tie singapore

Charter Member

Jul 2021Dec 2025 · 4 yrs 5 mos · Singapore

  • Honored to be invited to be a Charter Member for the Singapore chapter of TiE which started in the Silicon Valley in 1992. Today, it is a strong global network with over 60 chapters in 17 countries and over 10,000 members.
  • TiE Singapore is a vibrant eco-system of Asian entrepreneurs, angel investors, venture capitalists and industry professionals. It is a non-profit that inspires entrepreneurs through its training, mentoring and networking programs.
  • TiE Singapore nurtures a productive environment where
  • Startups can interact and get advice from successful entrepreneurs and industry professionals.
  • Entrepreneurs can help their peers and benefit from each other's experiences and network with potential investors.
  • Investors can stay updated on the startups scene in Asia and get introduced the hottest startups and the founder community.
  • Founders can find a support system through the entire entrepreneurial process and groom into seasoned entrepreneurs.
  • Seasoned entrepreneurs can give back to the entrepreneurial community through mentoring.

Jamm

Co-Founder & VP - Strategic Partnerships

Apr 2021Mar 2022 · 11 mos · Singapore

  • Building an AI/ML powered software to onboard into car dashboard cameras, using driving behaviour to customize insurance policies. Built on the data to create actionable insights for road traffic regulators to optimize roads to reduce accidents.
  • Onboarded and integrated with NTUC Income, Direct Asia and Etiqa
  • Partnered with Carro to roll out a distribution program
Enterprise Technology Sales

Lilac insights

Investor

Dec 2020Present · 5 yrs 3 mos · Singapore

  • Lilac Insights provides genomic testing with a focus on oncology and non invasive pre-natal testing, serving over 300 hospitals across Asia
Early Stage InvestmentMedical TechnologyVenture CapitalDue DiligenceHealthcare

Zilingo

2 roles

Head of EMEA & Global Strategic Accounts

Jun 2019Apr 2021 · 1 yr 10 mos · Singapore

  • Led Strategic Account Management for Zilingo at an HQ level, leading accounts across USA, Indonesia,
  • Thailand, Bangladesh and Europe, coordinating with C-level executives to drive collaborations
  • Part of the core team working on Zilingo’s first acquisition, a Sri-Lankan SaaS company, nCinga (for
  • $15.5mn)
  • Expanded Zilingo’s operations across Europe and the Middle East, bringing in marquee clients across
  • Dubai, London, Copehagen and Berlin
Business DevelopmentSales ManagementEnterprise Technology Sales

Country Manager, South Asia

Feb 2017Jun 2019 · 2 yrs 4 mos · Singapore

  • Launched Zilingo’s India operations and scaled to $100mn annually with full P&L responsibility,
  • leading a team of 60 across the country
  • Conceptualized and executed new business verticals for Zilingo including capex and opex financing for
  • SMEs (deployed $14 million USD in loans) and machine learning hardware for fabric manufacturing
  • Led functions across Operations, Finance, Recruitment and Product Development (Tech)
Business DevelopmentSales Management

Ncinga innovations (pvt) ltd

Investor (Exited)

Feb 2019Feb 2020 · 1 yr · Singapore

Venture CapitalDue Diligence

Wellness forever medicare limited

Investor

Aug 2014Feb 2017 · 2 yrs 6 mos · Mumbai Metropolitan Region · On-site

Early Stage InvestmentVenture CapitalHealthcare

Fareye

Investor

Jun 2014Feb 2017 · 2 yrs 8 mos · Mumbai Metropolitan Region · On-site

Early Stage InvestmentPrincipal InvestmentsVenture CapitalSoftware as a Service (SaaS)

Restroworks

Seed Investor

Apr 2014Feb 2017 · 2 yrs 10 mos · Mumbai · Remote

  • Formerly Posist, Restroworks powers the front and back end operations of restaurants across USA, SEA, Middle East and India, including Subway, Taco Bell, Haagen Daz, Carl's Jr and many more
Early Stage InvestmentVenture CapitalSoftware as a Service (SaaS)

Capfort ventures

Chief Investment Officer

Aug 2013Feb 2017 · 3 yrs 6 mos · Mumbai Area, India

  • Managing the investments for a large India based family office.
  • Created a steady pipeline of deals, analyzed investment proposals and personally led rounds up to $2 million into startups.
  • Judged Startup events at various prestigious institutions including IIT Bombay and VJTI Institute.
  • Current portfolio companies include;
  • Gridle - A cloud collaboration tool for SMEs
  • Posist - A point-of-sales system for restaurants that addresses inventory management, a customer database with preferences and more
  • In three - Rural eCommerce
  • Fareye - A GPS based logistics solution
  • Ad$parx - A must-have solution for video streaming companies advertising needs
  • Freshvans - Indore's newest eGrocer
  • Talview - Cloud based solution for recruitment
  • Zippr - The new digital address
  • Freshworld - Delivering quality groceries in Bangalore
  • Wellness Forever - Fast growing pharmacy chain based in Maharashtra
Early Stage InvestmentVenture CapitalSoftware as a Service (SaaS)

Hiraco lab grown diamonds

Head of Sales and Business Development

Aug 2013Feb 2017 · 3 yrs 6 mos · Mumbai

  • Supervising the manufacture and sale of the finest HPHT and CVD Lab Grown Diamonds.
Early Stage InvestmentVenture CapitalDue Diligence

Resellerclub, directi

Marketing Associate

May 2012Aug 2013 · 1 yr 3 mos · Mumbai Area, India

  • Handling country specific marketing drives and initiatives for ResellerClub. Research into the trends of specific markets and their growth potential
Sales Management

Education

JAI HIND COLLEGE, MUMBAI

Bachelor of Arts — Economics

Jan 2009Jan 2012

Indian School Al Ghubra - Muscat, Oman

EMDI

Diploma

Jan 2010Jan 2011

Riverdale International

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